It depends...
-On balanced teams, it requires skill and knowledge. We all know when we are in a great Hutball game. A tight score, crisp pass tense action, people moving together. These games are usually a lot of fun win or lose.
-On stacked ridiculous teams, it really doesn't matter just hope to be lucky enough to get on the right side. Or punch yourself in the face when you are on the team with the noob who stands at the edge of the Pit by the goal giving a nice target for people to leap to over and over, or the team with no healer, or with 4 camping mercs and/or snipers, etc
...what really hurts objective based PvP is the lack of integrated voice chat. When I play with a 4 or more guildies who are in Mumble it become a much better game because you can communicate.
As for your friend, I find under 50 Huttball a blast because the games usually are more even and balanced. I use under 50 a a place to actually learn how to run a new character effectively in PvP.